Megan Valdez
by MoonlightShadows13
Summary: She had a SHEILD record, and a deal with Osborn. Bring him the kid, and she got the money. Easy, right? Maybe not... Falling for the kid you were supposed to take out in the process can really mess up your plans... Rated T because I'm paranoid. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

"You sure you can handle this?" Osborn was watching the screen in front of him, the video feed playing on a loop.

"Of course I can. What, do you doubt me?" The person behind him replied. They, too, were watching the video feed.

"Not a bit." Osborn turned to look at the assassin leaning against his desk.

The assassin smiled. "Good."

Parker rolled out of bed, wandering off toward the bathroom. He arrived at school in time for first period. Luckily he wasn't late. Glancing around the classroom, he scouted out his usual spot next to Harry. He dropped his stuff next to the middle seat in the three seat table.

"Hey," Pete said as he sat down.

"Hey, Pete," Harry replied. They would have talked more if the bell hadn't rung, signaling the start of class. Colson walked in, causing a collective groan to go through the class. If Colson was teaching, it would probably be another class on the benefits of eating tofu- loaf.

"Settle down, everybody," Colson said, standing at the front desk. "Now, I would like to introduce your new classmate."

A girl walked through the door, and Pete's eyes widened. Her appearance was overall stunning. Long red hair hung to her waist, lace up black boots with flat heels went up to her knees. Her skin tight jeans slid smoothly into her boots, and her leather jacket covered whatever shirt she was wearing underneath. You could just see the hem of a red shirt poking out from under the jacket near her waist, about where her hair ended.

"This is Megan Valdez; she'll be in this class from now on." Colson cast his eyes around the room, looking for an empty seat. "You can sit next to Peter Parker in the back."

The girl moved smoothly toward the seat. She sat as if she would have to make a run for the door at any second, perched on the edge of the chair, muscles taut.

At lunch, the whole SHEILD team was assembled in front of Colson's desk for some unknown reason.

"Right, as you all know, a girl transferred into this school today. I want you to be careful when dealing with her."

"Why?" Ava asked from where she stood at the corner of Colson's desk.

"She has a… history with SHEILD, and is not to be trusted under any circumstances."

"Then why was she admitted to this school?" Ava demanded.

"As it is, we have no right to deny her education at this school, but… I feel it is only necessary to warn you guys. Be on your guard." The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, and the end of the discussion.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok, so I decided that I was going to make this an OC/Sam fic. I'm not sure how it'll work, but here goes…**

It turned out that as hard as the team tried to keep their distance from Megan, the teachers seemed determined to force them to work with her. In science she was Danny's lab partner, in math Ava was helping her catch up, in social studies Luke was her partner for the big project coming up, in English Sam was supposed to be helping her review, and finally gym she was supposed to be Pete's fitness buddy. As it turned out, though, Megan seemed to be a super genius. She was good at just about anything she tried, including getting in with Pete's friends. She started with MJ, and then got on Harry's good side. Before the team knew it, Megan was sitting at their table at lunch, eating and laughing with Pete's best friends. It bugged them, Pete most of all.

"I don't understand why they hang out with her, I mean, she's not funny! She doesn't have cool stories, at least not that she tells!" Pete was ranting to the team as they walked through the Helicarrier halls.

"Look, webhead, we understand that you're not good with newcomers, and that she makes you do actual pushups, but we get it! You can stop ranting any time!" Sam interrupted before Pete could go on another tirade.

"If you permit one to get under your skin, they have control of you. It is best to stay calm and have patience. She will make her move eventually, and at that time she will remove herself from the fantasy she had created," Danny intoned.

"I guess you're right," Pete relented. "It still bugs me, though."

"A lot of things bug you, webhead," Ava commented.

"Yeah, man, just relax," Luke told him. The team walked into the briefing room, where they found Fury already waiting for them. They took their usual seats as Fury started to brief them.

"As you all know, a new girl has entered your class under the name Megan Valdez. Agent Colson has already informed you that she has a history with SHEILD, and the details of that so called history will be covered today. I suppose we should begin with her real name. While having many aliases over the years, such as Megan Valdez, The Sniper, and The Wreath, some of which have been given by the press and others left in messages scrawled on the walls with the victim's blood," The team grimaced at this mental image, "it still remains unknown as to what her real name is. The only reason we were able to identify all these aliases as her was because her outfit doesn't change. Between blurry photos, close encounters, and a tip off we found that her general appearance was the only thing tying these murders together. At one point we came close to arresting this… assassin thanks to Agent Colson."

"COLSON?" The team broke in, speaking in unison. Fury gave them all a one eyed glare. He was not fond of being interrupted.

"Yes, Colson. Now, going on, you should be cautions as she uses the same kind of hand to hand combat techniques as-" The siren went off, cutting Fury off. He called the name after them, but it was lost in the noise.

"Did Fury just say something?" White Tiger asked nobody in particular.

"No clue," Pete replied.

"Come on, we have to get to downtown!" Powerman yelled over his shoulder.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, Sparkplug! Get your act together!" White Tiger yelled at Nova as he was hit. Nova skidded along the roof top, coming to a rough stop when he hit the short wall that was supposed to help keep people from falling off the roof. He was glad it was there; otherwise he would have done just that. Nova dragged himself up, and flew back toward The Wizard. He managed to get close enough where he could blast The Wizard and do some actual damage. The Frightful Four had suddenly decided that they were going to tear up downtown, and it was up to the team to stop them. Not that they were doing a very good job.

After managing to put The Wizard out of commission, calling Spiderman over to tie him up with his webbing, Nova turned his attention to the other three. Or other two, as he seemed unable to find Thundra. He kept spinning around, looking for the fourth member of the Frightful Four. That was about when pain exploded through his skull. Thundra had come up behind him, smashing down on his helmet with a rock. Nova whirled, planting his foot into the side of her head. Thundra barley shifted, and Nova found himself being spun around and thrown off the roof. He was so dizzy he couldn't even remember how to fly.

Nova was waiting for the impact, but it didn't come, or at least it wasn't as hard as he expected. He found himself crashing into another person, who looped their arms around him, hauling him back up to the roof. His distance sense had been way off; he hadn't flown off the roof yet, just almost. If the person he had run into hadn't been there, well… He didn't even want to think about it.

"Thanks," Nova muttered groggily, but found that no one was there. Iron Fist and Powerman were off fighting Klaw, and Spiderman was helping White Tiger out with The Trapster. Nova began looking around again for Thundra, and hauled himself up to walk shakily to the other edge of the building. He looked over the edge, and found himself with a bird's eye view of a very interesting fight. Thundra was getting her butt kicked by… a strange person. Nova guessed that this was the person who had saved him, and he flew down to get a closer look. When he was close enough to see and hear the person clearly, he sucked in a breath.

"You should have just stayed out of it. You were decommissioned from Osborn's keep," Megan snarled to Thundra.

"Sorry, but I don't believe in trusting kids with important assignments," Thundra smugly replied, smirking in a superior way at Megan.

"Well, if you go around damaging the merchandise then no ones going to get paid. He's wanted alive, not dead."

"I didn't go near Spiderman, and we all know that that's the one Osborn truly wants."

"You're an idiot, aren't you? He may hate Spiderman, but he's smarter than to go straight to the source. He wants them all. Don't you see that with the powers of all of Spiderman's teammates he can not only take Spiderman out but he can also hit him where it hurts the most."

"What, in the balls?"

"No you retard! In the heart."

Thundra smirked and laughed. "In the heart? You've gotta be kidding me, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

Megan shook her head slowly, managing to convey sympathy for someone who had to live being so stupid and condescending arrogance. "Using behavioral studies, Osborn managed to find out that the most important thing to Spiderman was his friends, his team. Thus, by using them as bargaining chips and killing them anyway, he can leave Spiderman worse than dead. He can leave him broken." Megan looked back up at Thundra, a smile tearing her face. It was an evil smile, full of cruelty and wolfish malice.


	4. Chapter 4

Nova decided to leave those two alone, flying back to where Spiderman had put the tied up three of the Frightful Four they had managed to subdue.

"Where's Thundra? You didn't let her get away, did you, Buckethead?" Spiderman demanded accusingly.

"No, she's over there, on the ground." Nova gestured toward the other side of the building. Spiderman frowned at him, but webbed his way over there to make sure. Sure enough, there was Thundra, lying unconscious on the ground. Spiderman laced webbing around her, and the team took The Frightful Four back to the Helicarrier. Sam changed out of his Nova costume, and sat on the hull of the Helicarrier pondering what he'd heard earlier. He felt it was only fair to warn Webhead, but man, he pissed Sam off just so much… Deciding he would start by warning the others, Sam went back inside. He found Luke in the gym, doing… something… Sam couldn't really tell what. Luke stopped his workout when he saw Sam.

"Hey, Sam, what's up?" Luke asked.

"Look, earlier today when we were fighting The Frightful Four…" Sam trailed off, not sure how to go on.

"Yeah?"

"I didn't really take out Thundra…"

"But who did?" Luke was perplexed at this thought.

"That's just it! It was that girl that transferred into our school and we keep getting warned about."

"Megan? But why would she take out Thundra?"

"Well, I heard them talking, and it sounded pretty bad…" Sam went on to relay the conversation, during which Luke got progressively more worried.

"That sounds really bad; we've got to tell the others, especially Peter."

"Yeah," Sam agreed.

"But, why would you tell me first, and not Peter?"

"Well, I guess… I just really hate Parker right now… I'm not sure why, he's just pissing me off…" Luke laughed at this.

"Even if you two have gotten closer, I don't think you'll ever stop getting on each others' nerves!"

"Whatever," Sam grumbled, going off to find White Tiger or Iron Fist.


	5. Chapter 5

By the time all of the team knew, it was already the next day. It had taken forever to find Parker over at the Oscorp building with Harry. The team had sent Danny in, as he seemed the most relaxed in an upscale building like Oscorp, for some unknown reason. He never told the team how he got past the receptionist, but from their vantage point it looked like some serious flirting was involved. After an extended period of time, Danny came back down.

"He had been warned," Danny said, and that was all he would say on the matter of his trip through Oscorp.

The team went to school like they were supposed to, but they were all on edge, especially Sam. He hadn't told the team that Megan had saved him from an untimely demise, but he was worried about it. Why had she saved him? Even if he had ended up falling, Spiderman would've caught him. Sam spent the whole day studying the girl. He tried to do it covertly, but in the end he just flat out watched her. In science, seventh period, Megan finally walked straight up to him.

"Look, kid," She snarled, almost growling, into his ear, leaning in so her mouth was practically at his ear. "Just because I saved you from falling off the edge of a building doesn't mean that you stare at me all day, got it?" Sam's eyes widened to the point of practically popping out of his head.

"H- How did you-" Sam stutteringly began, but she pulled away, smiling her wolfish smile.

"I have my ways, Nova." Then she swished away, long red hair flashing, leaving Sam shaking in his boots. The sharp glint in her grey eyes had shaken his core. He could barely think he was so scared. If she knew his identity, did that mean that she knew the others' as well? When science was over he bolted like a startled rabbit. He found himself pacing near the doors, scanning the crowd as the students emptied out of the building. He had slipped around the corner when the team had passed, but was unable to avoid Webhead, as he was walking with Harry and MJ, who were walking with Megan. Sam took three deep breaths, holding his ground. The group paused when they saw Sam standing in their path.

"I need to talk to you." Sam locked eyes with Megan, his voice coming out as a growl. MJ, Harry, and Pete raised their eyebrows in surprise and curiosity. Megan just smiled her wolfish smile. The others didn't see.

"So, what's so important?" Megan was lounging in Principal Colson's chair. They figured that no one would come in any time soon, it being the principal's office, and Colson back on the Helicarrier by now.

"How many?"

"What? You should really start at the beginning of the thought, not the end."

"How many of the others do you know the secret identity of?" Sam spat.

"None, actually. You're the only one. I figured that if I watched you enough I'd find out."

"But how'd you know about me?"

"You should really consider getting your tattoo removed." This made Sam blanch. Not even Fury had noticed the map of the Bahamas on his ankle and Fury had one sharp eye. "When I saved you from falling, your pants leg slipped up, and your boot down. Today in gym, I saw it when you were fixing your shoe." Sam almost collapsed from relief that she hadn't hacked into the SHEILD database or anything. It meant that the others were safe, for now. He decided he'd have to start distancing himself from them, as to not put them in danger. Then he struck upon a brilliant idea…


	6. Chapter 6

Sam came to school late the next day. He wasn't very late, just enough so that he would have to choose a seat other than his norm, and he was counting on the pattern he began to notice. Megan had begun to distance herself from the others, choosing a seat far in the back. Luckily, the pattern prevailed, and soon Sam was sitting next to her. That was how the whole day, and week, basically went. Sam followed Megan everywhere, sitting next to her, trailing behind her in the halls. She was the only one he even spoke to, besides the teachers, all day. Sam even went so far as to hack into the teachers' computers to make it so they were partners on any new projects coming up. Needless to say, she got seriously bugged when she noticed.

"Don't you have anyone else to talk to?!" She ended up yelling at him in Study Period. In fact, Danny, MJ, and Ava were only a few tables away, but Sam just smiled.

"I figured that if I had to protect the others I could talk to, I could put up with you."

"Put up with? Really? As far as I remember, you've been following me around all week!"

"Valdez, Alexander." Suddenly Colson appeared out of nowhere, standing over their table. "Causing a disturbance in Study Hall is strictly forbidden in the school rules. You're to report to detention after school." Megan actually growled at Sam, who sat, grinning stupidly.

In detention, Megan was content to glare at Sam, who had insisted on choosing the seat next to her. He was talking her ear off, going on and on about some chick named Sara…

The school alarm went off, cutting Sam off as he was just going into the topic of how amazing Sara looked with her hair up. Colson, who had been the one who was watching them, jumped up, running out of the room. Megan sprang up as well, jumping from desk to desk to the door. She yanked it open, but a blinding flash of blue energy cut off her escape route. Sam, now in his Nova costume, lounged on the desk, keeping up a steady beam to keep her in detention.

"Cutting out on detention is against the rules, you know," Nova said with a smirk. Megan just picked up the waste basket, throwing it at Nova's head. Nova dodged, but he had to stop his beam, and Megan sprinted out the door. Nova managed to catch up outside, he flew down low, keeping pace with her as she moved toward where Nova's team was fighting. Nova mostly watched as she crept up behind White Tiger, then everything clicked into place. She was going to tackle White Tiger off the building and from there, take the amulet and take her to Osborn. Nova sprang into action. Before Megan could move, he had scooped her up and was flying up and away as quickly as he could.

"Let go of me, Buckethead!" She hollered at him.

"No way! You're going to leave my friends alone! I don't care if Osborn doesn't give you the money! Besides, being The Green Goblin now, he probably won't pay you anyway!"

"You're an idiot! You think I work for him? No way! You've got the wrong Osborn in your head. The one I work for is only a teen; in fact, he's in your class!"

"Wait, Harry hired you?!"

"Yeah, I think that's his name!" Sam dropped Megan on the roof of one of his favorite buildings.

"You shouldn't go through with this."

"Why not? I mean, it's not like I'm an upstanding person."

"Yeah, but Harry is. If you go through with this, he won't ever be the same."

"Concerned about your friend? How cute."

"And about you." This took Megan back, just a little. "After he finds out who Spiderman is, who do you think is next? The only person who could ever tie him to the crime. You."

"What makes you think he could ever get me?"

"Part of what he's paying you for is the delivery of Spiderman's team. He knows how our powers work, and he can harness those powers. Once he has them, you won't stand a chance." Megan looked the young superhero up and down, feeling a very strange feeling spread through her stomach.


	7. Chapter 7

Sam even went so far as to follow Megan around on the weekends, but she seemed to be a lot less cold. At one point she turned to where he was hiding in a bush.

"Do you want ice cream?" She asked him bluntly. People around them looked at the crazy girl talking to the bush.

"…Yes…" Sam grudgingly replied. The people near the bush jumped back.

"Two, please," Megan told the ice cream man, handing him the exact change. She carried the frozen treat around the bush, handing it to Sam. She sat down next to him, and they sat in tense silence.

"So… Did you mean it?" Megan asked quietly.

"Mean what?" Sam asked while licking ice cream off his hand.

"What you said about being worried… About me…"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"Because I'm the bad guy in this film."

"I don't think you really are… There's something about you that tells me that you didn't really kill all those people."

"Oh, yeah? What if I actually did kill them all?"

"Then you don't act like any killer I know, and I know lots, I am a superhero, after all."

"Okay, but still… Why would you even care what happened to me? You could've just thrown me in jail."

"I suppose, but… You just remind me of someone I once knew."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she was an amazing girl, who made a bad choice. She tried to save me from that choice by going off on her own, but I followed her anyway. She killed a lot of people, and she probably should've been put in jail, because at the time they were just bystanders, but then I found out that all those people… They were the ones who had made it so she had to leave. They had forced her to make to wrong choice, and she was trying to escape." Sam fell quiet, thinking about the girl he had known.

"Um, Sam…" Megan said quietly, interrupting his thoughts.

"What?" Sam looked over at her. A smile was pulling slightly at her lips. Megan pointed to his ice cream. He looked down, only to find that the chocolaty deliciousness had dripped all over his shirt.

"Aw, crap!" He jumped up, brushing uselessly at the stains. Megan burst out laughing, which surprised Sam so much he forgot about his shirt. She was smiling, like a normal person for once, and looking at him.

"You should probably change your shirt," Megan gasped out between bursts of laughter. Sam frowned at her, but found that her laughter was contagious and was soon laughing himself. She had a beautiful laugh that sounded like bells ringing, and her smile was just as amazing. No longer the ferocious grin, she looked actually kind of… pretty… Sam supposed.


	8. Chapter 8

As it was, Sam found that following Megan around became more of a pastime than a surveillance mission. Of course, that didn't stop his team from giving him weird looks and trying to talk to him constantly. At one point they all cornered him in the math hallway.

"What's going on with you? Don't you remember that Colson told us to stay _away_ from the psycho assassin?" Ava demanded.

"Yeah, I mean, come on, Buckethead! Not even you can be that stupid!" Peter put in. Sam was ignoring them. He was watching the girl on the other side of the hall, who was watching them. As Sam watched, a slow, wolfish smile began to spread across her face, and he felt the color drain from his own face. Megan tipped her head to one side, smiling like a wolf on the prowl, and turned and walked away.

"I need to go!" Sam burst out, shoving his teammates aside, dashing after the black clad figure. He burst out through the door, scanning the crowd, but there was no dark figure anywhere to be seen. Internally he groaned. Racing back into the school, he found his team standing where they had been before, well, almost all of his team. They were glaring collectively at him.

"What was that all about, Sparkplug?" Ava asked, sounding slightly accusative.

"Um… guys?" Sam said, weakly.

"What?" Peter asked.

"Where's Danny?" Sam murmured, feeling his legs begin to shake.

"Um… Now that you mention it… Where is he?" Luke asked, looking around. "He was here just a second ago…" Sam walked shakily toward the spot he had last seen Danny, finding a folded sheet of paper on the ground. He picked it up, unfolding it.

"My turn to hide now," Sam read the words out loud. He conveniently left out that it was addressed to him.

"So, let me get this straight… Not only were you conducting unauthorized surveillance on an assassin who could have you dead in three seconds flat, but you also managed to let one of your teammates get abducted by this assassin. Tell me, is there anything else I should know?" Fury was passing before the team, who all looked dejected to say the least.

"Well… I managed to find out who hired her, and what her mission is…" Sam said meekly.

"Then do enlighten us, Mr. Alexander," Fury growled.

"Well, first, her mission is to capture all of Spiderman's teammates, allow her employer to harness their powers, then kill them, with Spiderman hopefully watching, so her employer can leave Spiderman worse than dead," Sam said, the pieces from conversations clicking together in his mind.

"Oh, and who is her employer?" Fury asked.

"Um… Well… It's uh… It's Harry Osborn…" Sam muttered, looking at his feet. What remained of his team gasped.

"I thought I told you to start with the flashlight," Harry growled at his hired assassin. She just flipped her hair over her shoulder. Glancing back at Danny, who she had made sure was wearing his superhero suit and mask just so Harry wouldn't know it was one of his good friends, she almost felt bad for him. Then she remembered her job, and her heart hardened again.

"I brought this one to you first because it'll take you longer to figure out how to harness his powers. He uses a magic type power that is infused with his being. It'll be the same way for Powerman, so I figured I'd buy you some more time to figure them out. The Flashlight is easy. Take the helmet, take the power. Same with the Tiger. Now if you don't mind, I'm going." The assassin turned on her heel and left. Harry was fuming, but pulled up a file to try and figure out how to harness the superhero's power. He didn't bother to see who was under the mask.


	9. Chapter 9

Nova flew low over the tops of the buildings. He was tracing the path from school to other parts of town, hoping to catch a glimpse of his red haired… well he didn't know what to call her now. Yesterday he would have called her a friend, today, who knows? The only word he really didn't want to use was enemy. He had made the mistake of jumping to that conclusion with someone else and was worse off for it. At length he found himself hovering above Oscorp, at a loss as to what to do. Sitting down on a window ledge he drearily watched the crowd below. A flash of red caught his attention and he perked up. Scanning the crowd carefully, he found her, stepping away from the Oscorp building, gliding through the crowd like a shadow. Nova flew down, so he was flying above her. When she turned down a deserted alley, he dropped down behind her. Turning, she locked her grey eyes on him. They were cold and unfeeling, and made him want to shiver. He didn't.

"So… I guess you figured it out, huh?" Nova asked, pulling off his helmet. Megan looked away.

"Yeah, I guess," She said.

"Tell me, why did you start with Danny? Why not me? You already had it all figured out by then, and I would've been much easier to catch."

"It doesn't matter why I started with him. Maybe I just wanted you to be lured in; did that ever occur to you?"

"Well, it might of, but I'm standing right in front of you, there's no one else around, and yet you don't attack me."

"Do you want me to attack you?"

"Well, it would make it apparent whether or not you really are my enemy."

"What do you think?"

"I think that jumping to conclusions is a bad idea."


	10. Chapter 10

Megan snorted, crossing her arms, but still she didn't attack him. Sam watched her carefully as he lifted his helmet to put it back on.

"Alright, so I suppose I'm going to jump to a conclusion here. I'll give you the chance to tell me where my friend is, and if you tell me now, I won't have to hurt you," Sam said, as he secured his helmet on his head. Megan just smiled like a wolf going in for the kill, dropping into a fighting stance. Nova felt a sense of familiarity in the way she waited for him to attack, but he put it out of his mind as he lunges at her.

"Hey, where's Sam?" Ava asked no one in particular as they sat around the briefing table.

"He just said that he was going out," Pete replied.

"Um… Shouldn't we go find him?" Ava asked. "After all, if we don't know where he is, he might end up… missing like Danny." The others looked at each other, and jumped up, bolting out of the room.

Megan dodged easily as Nova flew down toward her, blasting at her. She jumped, bringing the lead pipe she had picked up down on his shoulder. Nova felt himself crash down before he felt the pain. Rolling he dodged the pipe that now occupied the space where his head had been. Jumping up, he swung at her, but she brushed the punch away as if it was a fly. She was still smiling. It became a chore to dodge the constant swings of the pipe, as she moved with the fluidity of a trained SHEILD agent. Watching her, the name to the moves finally clicked inside his head. Nova blasted at her, taking to the air again, blasting the pipe out of her hands. She frowned slightly for the first time, and then dropped back into her stance. Moving as quickly as possible, she dodged the shots raining down from the sky. Standing on a dumpster, she watched as Nova swung in closer to blast her, and jumped.

"Any sign of Buckethead?" Spiderman asked his team through his communicator.

"Not yet, Spidey. I hope we find him soon, though."

"Guys, alley off of Main. Get here. Now." White Tiger's voice came through the communicator. Spiderman swung off in the direction of Main Street.

Megan leaned over Nova, biting her lip. At length she finally pulled his helmet off his head, leaving him there. She tucked the helmet under her arm, walking off toward her apartment. Once she had locked her doors and windows, she sat on her bed, staring at the helmet held in her hands. She realized she was going to have to make a choice.

Spiderman dropped to the ground next to White Tiger as Powerman came running up. White Tiger was leaning over the body of Sam, who was unconscious, a trickle of blood coming out of his forehead. They rushed him back to the Helicarrier.


	11. Chapter 11

When Sam opened his eyes, he found himself in the Helicarrier hospital room. Jerking up as the memories came rushing back, he instantly regretted it. Groaning with the pain that was now stabbing through his skull, he dragged himself out of the bed. He walked back to the briefing room, where most of his team sat around the table. They turned around to look at him.

"Where's-" Sam broke off, coughing, then tried again. "Where's my helmet?" The three sitting around the table glanced at each other.

"When we found you, you didn't have your helmet," Ava told him. Sam groaned again, more from despair then pain this time.

"It was her, wasn't it? We told you to stay away from her!" Ava said, but Sam just shook his head.

"You guys don't understand. One on one against her and we'd get out asses handed to us, sure, but together we could take her out easily. The reason we were told to stay away is because she isn't just any assassin that taught themselves to fight. Megan, she fights… she fights like Colson," Sam said, dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. Pete snorted.

"Come on, Buckethead. You probably have a concussion and were suffering from hallucinations or something."

"No, I'm absolutely serious. She fights like a well trained SHEILD agent, specifically one who was trained by Colson. Think about it. Why was it so important that we not fight her at all? After all, it would've originally been five on one, and let's face it. No assassin could hide from Danny's monk senses, no fighter can match Ava's ferocity, no weight lifter can match Luke's strength, and no… person… can… umm… coming up with a compliment for Pete is harder than I thought it would be…" Sam said, trailing off into deep thought. Pete glowered while the other two chuckled.

"You do have a point…" Ava relented.

"I think it's about time we asked Fury what's really in Megan Valdez's file," Sam finished, crossing his arms.


	12. Chapter 12

Megan was sitting on Harry's desk when he came back from school. He started when he saw her, but soon relaxed again.

"I hope you have something for me," he told her. She reached behind her and pulled out Nova's helmet, placing it on the desk in front of her crossed legs. Harry walked over and picked it up.

"Where's the hero?" He asked.

"Probably on the Helicarrier," she said, nonchalantly. Harry looked up sharply at her. She shrugged. "I got him down and took the helmet. He took off before I could stop him."

"I see…" Harry said slowly. Megan raised her eyebrows at him.

"Do you want the others or not? I've got this covered. Besides, he doesn't have powers anymore, meaning he's not a threat. So relax." With that, she uncrossed her legs and dropped to the ground, walking out.

Sam dragged his feet on the way home. He felt so awful. Loosing his helmet was the biggest mistake he had ever made. What would the Guardians think if they found out? Sam lagged behind the others, sullenly looking around for something to distract himself from his utter failure. They hadn't even had time to demand answers out of Fury yesterday because Bugbrain had had to rush home before his Aunt got back from snowboarding. He found himself staring bleakly at the sky, until a hand grabbed his wrist, pulling him off the street. The person's other hand clamped over his mouth, to stop any sound from coming out.

"I need to talk to you." So it was Megan, then, Sam thought. The grip on his arm loosened, and he turned to look at her. He tried to keep the pain from his eyes, but failed. He had actually believed she might not be like what they had told her for awhile, but after she took his helmet there was no denying it. The grip on his arm loosened, and he turned to look at her.

"Please hear me out," she begged him. Sam nodded, deciding to jump to another conclusion.


	13. Chapter 13

Sam walked down Main, deep in thought.

"Sam!" Ava's voice cut through his thoughts like a blade as she came running up. "What the hell are you thinking with the disappearing acts?! We've been worried sick, and SHEILD has agents crawling all over the city trying to find you!"

"Oh… Sorry…" Sam muttered, situating himself back into his thoughts. He could feel Ava glaring at him, but paid it no mind. Ava called in on her communicator to tell Fury to call of the search, and grabbed Sam's arm. She hauled him down the street and wouldn't let go until he was safely on the Helicarrier, not that he even noticed. They were on their way to the briefing room when the alarm began to blare. Agents rushed around Sam and Ava, who sprinted off toward the control deck. Sam just turned slowly and slid back off of the Helicarrier. Standing on the street corner, he watched as Megan dodged the attacks from his teammates. She really did move like a SHEILD agent when she fought. It was kind of sexy.

Megan flipped over Powerman and hit the side of her hand against the back of his neck. He stiffened, and then collapsed on the ground. Megan lifted him off the ground and threw him over her shoulder, taking off down the street. Sam didn't know how she could even lift him off the ground, but he put that out of his mind.

"Follow her!" Sam yelled, taking off after her.

"Sam? What are you doing here?" Spiderman demanded as he swung after Sam.

"Just shut up, Webhead and follow her!" White Tiger, Sam, and Spiderman raced together down the street until they found themselves following the assassin into Oscorp. They chased her up the stairs and down the halls until she slammed into a room that bore rather close resemblance to Doc Oct's lab. Harry tuned when they came into the room. Megan kicked the door closed and leaned against it.

"Here's the next one," she said, panting slightly. She threw him down on the ground, holding the door closed. Harry came over and dragged him across the room. He hauled him into a cage and locked the door behind him as he walked back out.

"Who's banging on the door?" Harry asked Megan. She grimaced at him before answering.

"The other superheroes, I think."


	14. Chapter 14

"What?!" Harry yelled as the door caved. Megan jumped out of the way as Spiderman swung into the room. Harry stumbled back toward his desk as White Tiger ran in after him. Sam hung back behind them, ducking his head so not to be recognized.

"Spiderman!" Harry growled, reaching behind him. He picked up Nova's helmet, which had been sitting on the desk behind him. He pulled it on, grinning wildly. "You are no match for the powers of the cosmos, Spiderman!" Harry made the motion as if to blast Spidey, but nothing happened. Everybody was quiet for awhile.

"Nova!" Megan yelled from the other side of the room. "Catch!" A dark shape flew through the air, and Sam plucked it out of the air like an apple off a tree. Pulling it over his head, the usual blue glow flowed down and across his body. Leaping into the air he blasted the side of the cage. Megan darted like a shadow into the cage, hitting pressure points on both Iron Fist and Powerman. They both jerked, and leaped to their feet, suddenly completely conscious. The five of the Superhero group ran out the door, racing away. None really wanted to fight Harry, so they just ran. Sam flew off down a side street, dropping down in front of Megan.

"So, you were a SHEILD agent, then?"

"Yeah, I guess I was. Though, after some stuff… happened Fury made me a new file that said I was an assassin and I went on my way. But, when I got this job request and I heard it would be in New York… I just had to come back. I just really loved this city."

"I don't see why," Sam grumbled to himself.

"So, here I am." She finished.

"So, what made you decide to help me instead of Harry?"

"I don't know, I guess I just… Jumped to a conclusion," Megan said, smiling.

"So, are you going to stay here now, and rejoin SHEILD?" Sam asked, and Megan's smile faltered.

"Um… no, I can't stay. I have to leave, very soon."

"Oh, um… Okay…" Sam looked down at his feet as he spoke.

"Um…" Megan said. Sam looked back up at her. Megan moved forward quickly, and pressed her lips against his. Sam's eyes widened in surprise, and then he relaxed into the kiss. Then she pulled away, and by the time he reopened his eyes she was gone.


End file.
